Claude Chabrol "La Fille Coupée En Deux"

Living in Paris as a german girl means also learning to understand french society. When Claude Chabrol's "La Fille Coupée En Deux" started running at cinema La Pagode just across the street from my apartment, I thaught it would be a good chance to enhance my knowlege on french cinema.

La Fille coupé en deux deals with the life and tragedy of a innocent lyonaise girl who fells madly in love with a popular 20-year older writer who uses her to assuage his phantasies. After having used her as a pawn in his sleeky game he throws the love she has for him away without any hesitation or scruples.

In parallel the rich son of a lyonaise fabric owner sees her and starts to long axiously for her love. From the beginning of his presence he gives the impression of a completely disoriented, poor and vunerable person who has no glue what life is all about and will probably never have. At the end of the film, the big tragedy arrives and La Fille gets lost between two worlds of this men consisting on one site of luxery and comfort, but, what is even more prevailing, cruelness and inhumanity.

Being braught up in decent but protectful and loving environment the observer can be sure that she will have the strengh to find herself again.

If one is interested in sociology and social structures the film should provide a nice view on the upper class of Lyon (of which someone told me that it should be worse than in Paris if you are not born there).
So when the cinema enlightened again and I saw the golden paintings of the pompous show room I thaugth to myself that I can be happy having grown up in a more equal society and now enjoying les belles choses de la vie francaise as 27 year old femme who lives, loves and works in the capital.

Picture of the beautyful little garden of the Cinema "La Pagode". Doesn't things like that just exist in Paris?